M. Hanna:Called the meeting to order at 2:30 PM.Move to approve the agenda.[Discussion

Over revisions to agenda suggested by email.]Passed unanimously.

Senate
Officer and Membership Changes

M. Hanna:I would
like to talk about the membership and officer changes, and deal with it as a
group—because I think it would be faster.Bob Messler has taken Gary’s [Gabriele] old position [as Associate Dean
of Engineering], so has had to resign as Chair of the Faculty.We approached Alan Desrochers about accepting
the position as Chair of the Faculty, because he had previously served as
President of the Faculty Senate.

Amy Van Epps has been suggested by the library as their
representative, to replace Abbie Basile, who left the Institute.There are also two replacements on P&T
[Promotion and Tenure Committee], both for one semester:Randy Norsworthy will replace Al Paulsen for
this semester as the representative from Management.Victor Roytburd will replace Langdon Winner
in the spring, as at-large representative.All these positions need to be confirmed by the Senate, through a vote.

R. Diwan:I’m
not sure of the procedure of re-appointment here.

M. Hanna:We
can go back to the last person on the ballot, or the Executive Committee can
make a recommendation.

R. Diwan:The
Chair of the Faculty – is it necessary to fill this position?

P. Hajela:There are ceremonial duties – such as participating in the inauguration.

S. Anderson-Gold:There are people who think that the growth of the Executive Committee
has diluted the sense of individual responsibility.

M. Hanna:I
think – just because of the workload – it is good to have it filled.There are duties to be performed.And having a filled roster is a way to get
someone to all the meetings we need to be at.

S. Anderson-Gold:Having many people go to the meetings sounds like the problem of
dilution.

Search
for Vice President for Research - Prof. toh-Ming Lu, Chair, Search Committee

M. Hanna:I
have promised Professor Lu that he can go next to discuss the search for a Vice
President for Research and Dean of Graduate Education.

T. Lu:Our purpose
here is to get feedback.First, I’ll
provide an overview of the search committee members, then an overview of events
that have taken place so far.But I’d
like to point out that the committee, per my suggestions, is now quite diverse
in terms of age and rank, to encourage a diversity of perspectives.

-July 22 – Dr. Jackson and Dr. Daves met
with Department Chairs, Faculty Senate,
Chair Professors and Directors to discuss and get input for the search.

-August 19 – with Senate Executive
Committee

-September 2 – Committee appointed

-September 9 – Committee met the first
time

-September 15 – Dr. Jackson met with
Committee to clarify the charge

-September 16 – Committee met the second
time to work out a detailed plan for the search

-September 21 – Discussion with/input from
Faculty Senate

-September 27 – Discussion with/input from
Directors/Chairs/Dean

-September 29 – Discussion with/input from
Chair Professors]

[Overview of search schedule:

-by October 18 – input and nomination from
campus

-by end of October – reviewing and
interview process

-early November – selection process

-before Thanksgiving – search complete]

T. Lu: Questions?

P. Hajela: Does the Committee have the option of
branching beyond the campus?

T. Lu: No.

P. Hajela:Hypothetically, what if a suitable candidate is not found on
campus.In what kind of time frame would
it be decided to branch beyond the campus?

T. Lu:If that
were to happen, the Committee would be fired.

M. Rea:This
person will also be dean of Graduate Education.What is the transfer of responsibility?Who serves in this role now?

T. Lu: This person will not be in the cabinet.Note that President Jackson’s cabinet is
different from the cabinet convened by Byron Pipes.Internally, this person is more like a
Vice-Provost, and a Dean – he or she reports to the Provost.The title of Vice President makes more sense
outside.But, since it is important not
to disconnect the position from academic affairs, the position will remain
under the Provost.Though this person
will be working with the President, because of the connection to fund raising.

B. Veryzer:Because
of the need for fundraising, the connection to the President is especially
important.

R. Diwan:The
task of fundraising and leading graduate programs can be very different.One is short term, the other long term.

B. Veryzer:This is a full time position- this person will not be able to keep his
or her own research stream going.Indication of willingness to give this up will be important in candidate
selection.

J. McLaughlin:Can you tell us what the interview process will look like?Will the campus community be involved?

T. Lu:My
feeling is that it would not be good to have an open house – because we don’t
want to pit candidates against each other.I don’t have a problem talking to everyone.But I would think it would be difficult to
convince candidates to do so.

J. McLaughlin:My view is that it would be good to have a larger group.

T. Lu:How big
is large?

J. McLaughlin:In
the selection of a Dean, there would be an open process.I am not suggesting a fully open forum.

M. Rea:What
would success look like for this candidate?In a few years, what would it look like to say, “We did a good job” in
this selection process?

R. Leifer:When looking for a provost, the issue of funded research was key.Basically, our funded research is 1/3 of what
it should be.The provost- and I assume
this new Vice President, will be responsible for this.So their record of funded research will be
important.

B. Veryzer:The Carnegie rating is also important – the goal of moving into the
first tier.I think the President is
working with a three-year time frame.

M. Rea:Day to
day, what will this person do?On Monday
morning, what does he or she do?Pray?
Travel a lot? Run colloquia on how to write proposals?What are the skill sets?

R. Diwan:I
have a friend at MIT who told me about how it works there.He goes to the Office of Research and tells
them his idea.Then they tell him who
has money for it and what spin he should put on the proposal.They have contacts – networks of them.

M. Rea:This
position seems to imply an infrastructure.It’s not just a person.It’s a
person with a staff.Have staff
positions been considered?

B. Veryzer:Means have not been specified, but the President did make clear that
this person would play a role in helping people get grants.

R. Diwan:Then
the role is very different than that of a dean.

P. Boyce:It
sounds like the Dean of Graduate School is just an add-on.

S. Anderson-Gold:I think there are two roles.One
is oriented toward raising money, traveling.The other, the dean of the GraduateSchool, has to be here at specific
times – or we won’t have any graduate students here.

M. Hanna:Maybe this is a matter of who all is in the office of this Vice
President – if the Vice President is oriented externally, and then maybe
someone in the office would be more internally oriented.

T. Lu: The goal is to put all of this under one umbrella.

M. Rea: Are you hopeful that you can accomplish these
objectives?

T. Lu: More so than I was with the Provost search
because this position doesn’t cover so many different responsibilities.Absolute confidence?No.I
think there are several people on campus eligible to apply- whether they want
to is another issue.

K. Fortun:Why
nest the two positions?

T. Lu: I’m not sure.Except for the coordination.

K. Fortun:Will you be looking among faculty members, or primarily among those with
significant administrative experience?

J. Perras:The
search committee does not have notes on the candidates’ qualifications including
demonstrated ability to secure funding, to bring diverse groups together,
excellent people skills, etc.

P. Quinn:I
seem to be coming at this from an opposite point of view from Mark Rea.Prior to the Monday morning issues, is the
question of whether the person has a good record of delegating responsibility
and authority.And the question of
whether this person can articulate the research component of Rensselaer’s
vision.A record of supporting
interdisciplinary collaboration is crucial. If we are talking about moving to
the first tier, then we have to have someone who can articulate this vision-
not only to NSF, but also to others.

M. Rea:It is
not clear to me what kind of authority this person will have to delegate.

P. Quinn: Nor to me.

T. Lu:The
vice President of Research will probably have the ability to provide matching
funds in designated categories.The
candidate will, probably negotiate exactly how much money will be available for
start-up funds and matching funds.I
hope there will be enough offered to get a good start.

M. Hanna:Thank you Professor Lu.

T. Lu:The
feedback I have heard from this group is that this position seems to be two
jobs.Is that right?[general agreement]

[Next agenda item:appointment of committee to develop the Rensselaer Long Range Plan.]

The
Rensselaer Plan - Senate Representation on the Committee

M. Hanna:We
have been asked by Interim Provost Daves to submit a list of five faculty, not necessarily Senators, for his consideration to
be appointed to this Committee.He needs
the list by the end of the day today.I
would like some Senate representation and a strong overall slate.I do have written recommendations from J.
McLaughlin who had to leave early.

[J. McLaughlin recommends that the Committee to develop the
Long Range Plan should be the same as the Planning and Resource Committee, or
at least this committee should be well represented.]

S. Anderson-Gold:What is the membership of this committee?

M. Hanna:Joyce [McLaughlin].Randy
Franklin [The Planning and Resources Committee also includes: Curtis Breneman,
Bob Degeneff, Bruce Nauman, and Louis Peters.The Committee does not have representative from Architecture or
H&SS.They need to be appointed.]

R. Leifer:What is the time from for the Committee’s work?

M. Hanna:Information seeking (through community meetings, for example) will be
completed by the end of October.A draft
of the plan will be ready by the end of November.When we thought that the Administration
wanted one representative from the Faculty Senate,
we put forward Prabhat [Hajela] and he agreed.This is a fast track.The
committee will be appointed within a week or less.The whole project will be finished by March.

M. Rea:What
will be asked of these committee members?

P. Hajela:Will they be charged to articulate the vision?

M. Hanna:For
the capital campaign, for example.

M. Rea: Is this a value proposition?

R. Diwan:If
this is a values thing, Joyce’s recommendation is not that important.Her Committee is about the nitty gritty, not
values.

G. Gabriele:There will be many inputs to this process, from Deans, for example, who can provide a more vertical perspective.This Committee will get a broader more
horizontal perspective.It will have a
series of questions and some consultants to help them gather the information.

R. Leifer:How
is this different than previous initiatives of this kind?

S. Anderson-Gold:The Planning and Resources Committee does have value-choices to make.

M. Hanna:Many
of these issues are usually only talked about at the level of vision, without
the nuts and bolts.This is one of the
first Presidents who want to talk at this level.

So I suggest that we retain Prabhat [Hajela] as a nominee to
the committee and a person from the Planning and Resources Committee.

S. Anderson-Gold:There will be a person from each school?

P. Quinn:We
need someone on this committee who is willing to raise dirty questions.Someone who is not shy… People who have done
interdisciplinary undergraduate education.Someone who knows about long-range research.

M. Hanna:I
though we should have someone who knows something about biotechnology, since
that will clearly be part of the mix.

Should we specify a way to delimit the list?[Specific names suggested have been deleted
from the record.]

[Discussion on whether representation should come from
Schools.P. Quinn argued that it should
not.M. Rea concurred.R. Diwan argued that there should be a
representative from each of the schools since they would know the undercurrent
of their schools – and because of the importance of diverse perspectives.]

Vice President
for Human Resources Discussion

[Next agenda item: Job description for Vice President of
Human Resources.Distribution of job
description for review.]

P. Quinn:I’ve
already got a problem.Requiring 15
years of experience cuts out many young people.

[Discussion of role.]

R. Diwan: Relating to this role is something that
happened a few weeks ago on campus.A
faculty member was escorted off campus by public safety.I think it’s very frightening and unfair.

M. Hanna:I spoke to
Doyle [Daves], and he said this doesn’t need to be kept quiet.

M. Rea:Can
you fill us in?

[Senate discussion formally taken off the record until 3:50 PM]

G. Gabriele:I
hear a call for more information and discussion on two issues – regarding due
process procedures in cases of termination and regarding the role and use of
security on campus.

P. Boyce:We
also need more information on the specifics of this incident.

M. Rea:I make
a motion that we receive written explanation from the Interim Provost regarding
two things: 1) the details of this incident and how due process was carried
out.2) Details on how perception of the
incident will be handled.